AI tracking motion through walls: Cool!

by Beth Divine• 2 Sep 2018

Recent news reports state that Artificial Intelligence is
being used in video games and similar simulated scenarios to track the movement
of people through walls. The process uses Wi-Fi signals and RFID technology. Essentially,
AI programs are shown multiple examples of people walking and moving around a
home, and at the same time, the AI monitors the reflections generated in the
frequencies of the RFID and W-Fi fields. To put it into a more understandable
concept, imagine a home as being a swimming pool and the water is the RFID and
Wi-Fi fields. As a person wades through the water, they can be seen directly –
but they can also be tracked using the ripples that they send through the
water. An understanding of each movement and the corresponding ripple (a dive
creates a big splashy ripple, stealthy wading a very subtle one, and swimming
produces a line of regular wavelets that show directionality and even speed)
can help someone to tell where the person is an what they are doing – even when
they can no longer see the person in the water any more.

In much the way described above, AI uses minute changes in
the RFID fields to track where a person is and even tell what they are doing –
and it can do it through walls! Are there any good reasons why this technology
is being developed?

Well, yes. There are a couple of very good reasons to
develop this technology and see how effective it can be. The first reason is
that it can be very useful to law enforcement and for defence forces. Using
this technology it will become very much easier for soldiers or policemen to
assess criminal or enemy strongholds to make sure that their intelligence
reports are correct, and to prevent ambushes from being enacted. If the
technology is perfected, it may even be possible to invent ‘x-ray specs’ that
will allow us to look through metal and stone walls and doors as though they
were invisible or translucent.

The second reason is the one that the technology is in development for:
it can help the elderly. At present, sheltered housing relies heavily on
pull-cords and intrusive phone calls. For example, if a resident has a fall, he
or she is expected to summon aid for themselves by pulling the communication
cord that opens a phone call with a call centre of carers who will then come
along to the rescue, summoning ambulances or medics as needed. A different
what-if posits that if a resident does not come to breakfast one morning, they
should receive a visit from the on-site carers who will knock and call out,
before making entry, or who will open the phone line and ask if the resident is
alright or if they are in need of assistance. This new technology will allow
carers and social workers to discreetly peep at the resident and see if they
are up and about, or if they do, in fact, need medical intervention.